The new Bounce Back Loans scheme to help smaller businesses has opened, offering loans up to a maximum of £50,000, or 25% of turnover. The Government will pay the interest for the first 12 months.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has updated its guidance on shielding clinically vulnerable people for councils, Local Resilience Forums and other local delivery partners. The Department has also issued a national shielding helpline council briefing.

A new collection of digital flashcards have been made freely available, to help healthcare workers wearing PPE to communicate with deaf, blind and critically ill coronavirus patients. The plan is to provide these in 30 different languages with a British Sign Language app.

Local

36 Urgent Dental Care centres are now operating across the South East, with local locations including Basingstoke, Winchester, Guildford, Portsmouth and Southampton. These are by appointment only and people will need to be referred after a referral from their dentist or NHS 111.

Local councils have been asked to plan for the organised reopening of their household waste and recycling centres.